The moment his fingertip brushed against the jade scabbard...
Whoom...!
Akin's breath caught, as though something unseen had seized his soul and drawn it through his fingers. A low metallic hum resonated within the bamboo cottage, ancient and hollow, like a relic awakened from centuries of slumber.
The Jade Sword trembled more violently. A faint silver sheen flowed beneath the carved cloud patterns along its pale sheath, as if mist were drifting under polished stone.
"Ow!" Akin yelped, even though the blade had not touched him. An invisible force jolted through his arm, and he instinctively jerked his hand back.
"Wait, wait! I'm only borrowing this body! I'm here to help your former master atone for his sins!"
A cool gust swept through the cottage, though the doors and windows were shut tight.
The sword tilted slightly....almost as if it were examining him.
Akin glanced around and spotted a bamboo broom leaning in the corner. Grabbing it with exaggerated resolve, he held it up like the last sacred weapon of a desperate artist.
"If you're going to fight, then come at me! Worst case, I'll knock you in half again!"
The scene was absurd...The former top disciple of a mountain temple, once famed for suppressing heretical sects, now stood brandishing a bamboo broom at a jade sword resting on a breakfast table.
At that very moment, Xue Rong approached carrying a food box and medicinal herbs, followed by her maid, Lin Yue. They halted about twenty paces away.
"Senior Brother Ling Shan… what are you doing?" Xue Rong asked.
"It looks like he's arguing with thin air…" Lin Yue whispered, eyes wide with curiosity.
The sword trembled again.
Hrrrng....
Akin swallowed hard. "You really want to fight me, don't you?! I am Ling Shan, you know! Just… reincarnated!"
The scabbard shifted and slowly rolled toward the edge of the table.
"Hey....hey! Don't jump!"
He lunged forward instinctively, only to slam his forehead against the table with a dull thud. The sword suddenly sprang upright...Its hilt pointed straight at his throat.
"HEY...!"
Clang!
The sword dropped toward the floor...but before it struck, it flipped gracefully midair and landed upright, leaning against a bamboo pillar as though deliberately showing off.
Akin sank to the floor, clutching his forehead, eyes watering.
"I just woke up… I'm not ready to duel a divine weapon like you!"
He scrambled to his feet and stood hands on hips before the sword.
"Listen, honored Sword. I may not be your old master, but I'm in this body now. By universal law, that makes me your current owner!"
Silence.
He reached out once more, this time determined.
Snap!
The sword slipped from his grasp on its own, rose about a foot into the air, spun slowly, and then turned its hilt away from him, as if declaring: Do not touch me.
Akin's jaw dropped.
"What?!"
Thud!
He suddenly dropped to both knees before the Jade Sword. His expression turned solemn. Raising both hands, he bowed deeply, pressing them to the ground.
"I respectfully take you as my master. Please accept me as your disciple. I swear I will fulfill Ling Shan's duty to the best of my ability."
His voice was steady now, firm, resolute.
Without warning, the Jade Sword fell to the floor on its own. Akin flinched... Only to realize that Xue Rong and Lin Yue were standing at the doorway, staring at him in utter bewilderment as he knelt before empty space.
"S…Senior Brother Ling Shan… what exactly are you doing?" Xue Rong asked, frozen in place.
Akin slowly stood up, brushing dust from his robes. Casually, far too casually ,he bent down and picked up the Jade Sword.
He paused. He had lifted it effortlessly. No resistance. No trembling…Nothing. He turned and gave Xue Rong and Lin Yue an awkward, dry smile. They smiled back, equally stiff. Xue Rong forced a gentle tone.
"Senior Brother… are you planning to practice swordsmanship? Perhaps… you should put it down first?"
Ling Shan glanced at the sword in his hand. For a fleeting moment, he thought he felt it grow still... As if, at last, it had acknowledged him.
Whoom!
The sword trembled more violently, releasing a low metallic hum, almost like a growl of displeasure.
"Ow!" Akin yelped, even though nothing had actually struck him, and immediately snatched his hand back.
"Wait, wait! I'm only in this body temporarily! I'm here to help your master atone for his sins, okay?!"
He glanced around the cottage and spotted a bamboo broom leaning in the corner. Grabbing it quickly, he held it with a little more confidence than he truly felt.
"If you're going to attack me, then come on! At worst I'll smack you until you snap in half again, come on! Try me!"
And thus the scene became… The former top disciple of a mountain temple, once famed for suppressing heretical sects, now standing with a bamboo broom pointed at a jade sword resting on a breakfast table.
At that very moment, Xue Rong was approaching with a food box and medicinal herbs, accompanied by her maid. From a distance, they happened to catch sight of Ling Shan brandishing a broom as though arguing with someone invisible through the window.
"What is Senior Brother Ling Shan doing?" Xue Rong murmured.
"That's what I was wondering, miss… It looks like he's quarreling with someone," the maid replied, craning her neck even though they were still nearly twenty paces away.
Xue Rong shot her maid a sidelong glance, mildly suspicious of her obvious curiosity.
The sword trembled again.
Akin swallowed hard. "You really want to fight me, don't you?! I am Ling Shan, you know! Just… reincarnated, that's all!!!"
The scabbard shifted slightly and began rolling toward the edge of the table as if preparing to fall.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't jump!"
(If I ever see He Jin Feng again, I'm going to beg him to transfer me to the palace to paint calligraphy instead!)
Akin lunged forward on instinct to grab it, only to slam his forehead against the table with a loud thud.
At that exact moment, the sword suddenly sprang upright. The hilt pointed straight toward Ling Shan's throat.
"Hey… !"
Clang!
The sword dropped to the floor, but before it could hit, it flipped gracefully in midair and landed upright, leaning against a bamboo pillar as though deliberately showing off its elegance.
Akin sat on the ground clutching his forehead, eyes watering. A sharp hiss escaped his lips from the pain.
"I just woke up… I'm not ready to duel a divine weapon like you!"
Grumbling, he pushed himself to his feet and marched over, planting his hands on his hips as he faced the jade sword in defiance.
"Listen, honored Sword," Akin declared, straightening his back with as much dignity as he could muster. "I may not be your former master, but I am the one inhabiting this body now. Therefore, by the laws of the universe, I am your rightful wielder!"
The sword went still.
Taking that silence as reluctant consent, Akin reached out again, this time with firm resolve, and grasped for the hilt.
Snap!
The sword jolted out of his grasp on its own. It rose a foot into the air, spinning slowly with deliberate elegance before turning its hilt away from him..
As if to say: Do not presume to touch me.
Akin's mouth fell open.
"What… ?!"
Thud!
Without warning, he dropped to both knees before the jade sword. His movements were abrupt but sincere. Lifting both hands, he pressed them to the floor in a formal bow.
"I respectfully acknowledge you as my master. Please accept me as your disciple. I swear I will fulfill Ling Shan's duty to the best of my ability!"
His voice rang clear and resolute. His eyes, once filled with comic defiance, now burned with unexpected determination.
Suddenly, the jade sword dropped to the floor of its own accord.
Akin flinched.
Then he slowly turned his head…
Only to find Xue Rong and her maid standing at the doorway, staring at him with utter confusion as he knelt before empty air.
"S… Senior Brother Ling Shan… what are you doing?" Xue Rong asked, frozen in place, her lips parted in disbelief.
Akin… still in Ling Shan's body… rose slowly, brushing dust from his robes with forced composure. Without a word, he bent down and picked up the jade sword.
He paused. He had lifted it effortlessly. No resistance. No trembling. No invisible force pushing him away. For a brief moment, he stood there in silence, processing that fact. Then he turned and gave Xue Rong and her maid an awkward, dry smile. They smiled back, equally stiff.
Ling Shan raised the jade sword in his hand, examining it as though nothing unusual had occurred.
"S-Senior Brother… are you planning to practice swordsmanship?" Xue Rong asked gently. "Perhaps… you should put it down first?"
Her smile was strained but polite. She gestured subtly for her maid to follow her inside.
The maid hurried to arrange the dishes into bowls, though she kept stealing puzzled glances at Ling Shan. This version of him felt… unfamiliar.
Xue Rong stopped before him.
Ling Shan met her gaze for a fleeting second, then calmly slid the jade sword back into its scabbard.
"I thought you might not come today," he said lightly.
"I had to," Xue Rong replied softly. "You have not fully recovered. And there is no one else to care for you."
Her eyes lowered shyly, unsure how to behave around this strangely changed man.
The maid continued setting the food, her brows faintly knit in confusion.
After a brief silence, Ling Shan spoke again.
"Xue Rong… I wish to see Jin Feng. How might I find him?"
His voice was steady, yet there was hesitation beneath it. He lowered his eyes before daring to meet hers across the low wooden table.
"Hmm…" Xue Rong paused thoughtfully. "Very well. Tomorrow I shall visit his residence and inquire. His parents run a trading business at the market. I will ask after him for you, Senior Brother Ling Shan."
She offered him a gentle, reassuring smile. Ling Shan nodded. And for the first time that morning, his returning smile was not forced.
Two days later, the bamboo cottage, once wrapped in stillness, was stirred awake by the soft crunch of footsteps and muted conversation drifting in from the courtyard.
Xue Rong had arrived early in the morning. Beside her stood her maid, Lin Yue, a round-faced young girl with bright, observant eyes. And with them… He Jin Feng.
He stood before the bamboo door in a robe of deep indigo, his posture straight as a pine rooted upon a cliffside. His features were sharp and composed, calmer, more restrained than Akin remembered from the fragments of dreams that still lingered in his mind.
Ling Shan, who had been sitting beneath the eaves watching sunlight spill across the yard, turned sharply at the sound.
His heart began to pound for reasons he could not explain.
"Jin Feng…"
He Jin Feng stepped forward and offered a polite salute, the courtesy of former fellow disciples.
"I heard you had awakened. I came to see for myself."
His tone was even, yet his eyes swept over Ling Shan's figure carefully, measuring wounds that could not be seen.
"Actually, I was the one who went to fetch him!" Xue Rong interjected brightly, cutting through the quiet tension. There was an ease between her and Jin Feng that hinted at familiarity.
She and Lin Yue tactfully retreated to prepare tea, leaving the two men standing in silence.
Ling Shan rose slowly.
"Walk with me."
He Jin Feng lifted a brow slightly, then nodded.
In the forest behind Ling Shan's cottage
Morning light filtered through the bamboo canopy in thin, shifting ribbons. The wind brushed against leaves, producing a soft, whispering susurration.
Ling Shan walked ahead until they were far enough that no one could overhear. Only when he was certain of their privacy did he stop.
He crossed his arms and spoke without turning.
"How was I injured?"
He Jin Feng regarded him steadily.
"You don't remember?"
"Only fragments," Ling Shan replied. He finally turned around, arms still folded, gaze sliding away for a moment. "I know only that it was a mission from the court."
He Jin Feng exhaled softly….
"Yes. A mission from the Imperial Court."
He stepped beneath the shade of a tall bamboo stalk, lowering his voice.
"A month ago, reports reached the capital that near Sanwu Cliff, villagers had begun conducting irregular sacrificial rites. There were rumors of a three-headed serpent appearing… and several disappearances."
(Sanwu Cliff…? That name means nothing to me.)
Yet the words struck Ling Shan's chest like echoes reverberating through shattered memories.
He Jin Feng continued.
"The realm has not been stable of late. On the western frontier, the Turks have begun stirring again. Within the court, there are whispers that certain princes harbor ambitions of rebellion. His Majesty does not wish the people to panic. If someone were to exploit superstition, invoking spirits and demons to incite unrest, it would only worsen matters."
He was speaking of the early years of the Tang dynasty, when imperial authority was still consolidating after the upheavals that marked the end of the Sui era.
"Thus, you were ordered to lead troops in the Emperor's name, to suppress the so-called spirits… and determine whether rebels were hiding behind the rites."
Ling Shan's fists tightened unconsciously.
"And then?"
He Jin Feng fell silent for a brief moment before answering.
"It was no simple village ritual."
His gaze grew distant.
"Beneath Sanwu Cliff lies an ancient cavern, an old place of worship. Some claim it was once a shrine of an unorthodox sect dating back to the final years of the Sui dynasty."
"And the three-headed serpent…?"
"It was belief," He Jin Feng said quietly. "But perhaps… not only belief."
He met Ling Shan's eyes directly.
"That night, the fog was thick. Chanting echoed across the cliffside. Some had fallen into madness, throwing themselves into the abyss as offerings. You ordered the troops to divide and encircle the site."
Ling Shan's heartbeat quickened without reason.
"And I…?"
"You located the center of the ritual near the cliff's edge. I could not reach you in time."
He Jin Feng's voice hardened slightly.
"Something erupted from the altar. The force of it triggered a collapse along the cliffside. You pushed a young girl away from the edge… but the backlash struck you instead."
The bamboo leaves trembled overhead.
And though Ling Shan stood unmoving…. Somewhere deep within his soul, something had begun to stir. Ling Shan stiffened. The image of a young girl… the yawning abyss… a woman in crimson robes…They overlapped in his mind like ink bleeding across white paper, blurring into one another until he could no longer tell memory from illusion.
"And the rebels?" he asked at last.
"Some were captured. Some escaped."
He Jin Feng lowered his voice. "There are traces suggesting the ritual was backed by a branch of a demonic sect, one that has been moving in the shadows for years."
A sudden gust swept through the forest, stirring the bamboo into restless motion. Ling Shan tilted his head back, staring at the sliver of sky visible through the canopy.
"Did I kill anyone?" The question slipped from his lips, barely audible.
He Jin Feng went still.
"You acted in your duty as a sub-commander. There was no avoiding bloodshed."
Then he looked at his old companion with unusual depth.
"But you hesitated. In the final moment, you stayed your hand once. I have never seen you falter like that before."
Ling Shan lowered his gaze.
The soul of the artist within him trembled.
"Jin Feng," he said, lifting his head again, expression solemn, "if one day I choose not to kill again… how would you see me?"
He Jin Feng fell silent. He did not understand what Ling Shan truly meant.
The bamboo leaves rustled, sounding almost like the whispers of the mountain itself.
After a long pause, he answered, "I would see you as I always have."
He stepped closer.
"But this world… may not grant you the same mercy. You are a soldier, Ling Shan. How can you forgo killing? Do not speak such nonsense."
Their gazes locked beneath the shifting shadows. Ling Shan felt it then with clarity, The mission at Sanwu Cliff was not merely the opening move of a political scheme. It was a fracture in fate itself… one that was drawing him, step by step, toward a deeper truth.
(Beneath that cliff… something is still waiting.)
Ling Shan lowered his eyes.
In that moment, he did not wish to inhabit Ling Shan's body at all.
(I will refrain from killing. I will atone for you, Ling Shan.)
Akin made the vow silently within his heart, sorrow pressing heavily upon him. He raised his injured hand and stared at it for a long breath, then clenched it tightly. Pain shot through his palm, sharp enough to force him to grit his teeth.
He welcomed it. Let it carve the promise deeper into his bones. He Jin Feng watched him, confusion flickering in his eyes, unable to comprehend the storm that had already begun to gather within the man before him.